• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.20 no.1 s.21
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• pp.165-203
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• 1987

This project was a service-cum-research effort with a quasi-experimental study design to examine the health benefits of an integrated Family Planning (FP)/Maternal & Child health (MCH) Service approach that provides crucial factors missing in the present on-going programs. The specific objectives were: 1) To test the effectiveness of trained nurse/midwives (MW) assigned as change agents in the Health Sub-Center (HSC) to bring about the changes in the eight FP/MCH indicators, namely; (i)FP/MCH contacts between field workers and their clients (ii) the use of effective FP methods, (iii) the inter-birth interval and/or open interval, (iv) prenatal care by medically qualified personnel, (v) medically supervised deliveries, (vi) the rate of induced abortion, (vii) maternal and infant morbidity, and (viii) preinatal & infant mortality. 2) To measure the integrative linkage (contacts) between MW & HSC workers and between HSC and clients. 3) To examine the organizational or administrative factors influencing integrative linkage between health workers. Study design; The above objectives called for quasi-experimental design setting up a study and control area with and without a midwife. An active intervention program (FP/MCH minimum 'package' program) was conducted for a 2 year period from June 1982-July 1984 in Seosan County and 'before and after' surveys were conducted to measure the change. Service input; This study was undertaken by the Soonchunhyang University in collaboration with WHO. After a baseline survery in 1981, trained nurses/midwives were introduced into two health sub-centers in a rural setting (Seosan county) for a 2 year period from 1982 to 1984. A major service input was the establishment of midwifery services in the existing health delivery system with emphasis on nurse/midwife's role as the link between health workers (nurse aids) and village health workers, and the referral of risk patients to the private physician (OBGY specialist). An evaluation survey was made in August 1984 to assess the effectiveness of this alternative integrated approach in the study areas in comparison with the control area which had normal government services. Method of evaluation; a. In this study, the primary objective was first to examine to what extent the FP/MCH package program brought about changes in the pre-determined eight indicators (outcome and impact measures) and the following relationship was first analyzed; b. Nevertheless, this project did not automatically accept the assumption that if two or more activities were integrated, the results would automatically be better than a non-integrated or categorical program. There is a need to assess the 'integration process' itself within the package program. The process of integration was measured in terms of interactive linkages, or the quantity & quality of contacts between workers & clients and among workers. Intergrative linkages were hypothesized to be influenced by organizational factors at the HSC clinic level including HSC goals, sltrurture, authority, leadership style, resources, and personal characteristics of HSC staff. The extent or degree of integration, as measured by the intensity of integrative linkages, was in turn presumed to influence programme performance. Thus as indicated diagrammatically below, organizational factors constituted the independent variables, integration as the intervening variable and programme performance with respect to family planning and health services as the dependent variable: Concerning organizational factors, however, due to the limited number of HSCs (2 in the study area and 3 in the control area), they were studied by participatory observation of an anthropologist who was independent of the project. In this observation, we examined whether the assumed integration process actually occurred or not. If not, what were the constraints in producing an effective integration process. Summary of Findings; A) Program effects and impact 1. Effects on FP use: During this 2 year action period, FP acceptance increased from 58% in 1981 to 78% in 1984 in both the study and control areas. This increase in both areas was mainly due to the new family planning campaign driven by the Government for the same study period. Therefore, there was no increment of FP acceptance rate due to additional input of MW to the on-going FP program. But in the study area, quality aspects of FP were somewhat improved, having a better continuation rate of IUDs & pills and more use of effective Contraceptive methods in comparison with the control area. 2. Effects of use of MCH services: Between the study and control areas, however, there was a significant difference in maternal and child health care. For example, the coverage of prenatal care was increased from 53% for 1981 birth cohort to 75% for 1984 birth cohort in the study area. In the control area, the same increased from 41% (1981) to 65% (1984). It is noteworthy that almost two thirds of the recent birth cohort received prenatal care even in the control area, indicating that there is a growing demand of MCH care as the size of family norm becomes smaller 3. There has been a substantive increase in delivery care by medical professions in the study area, with an annual increase rate of 10% due to midwives input in the study areas. The project had about two times greater effect on postnatal care (68% vs. 33%) at delivery care(45.2% vs. 26.1%). 4. The study area had better reproductive efficiency (wanted pregancies with FP practice & healthy live births survived by one year old) than the control area, especially among women under 30 (14.1% vs. 9.6%). The proportion of women who preferred the 1st trimester for their first prenatal care rose significantly in the study area as compared to the control area (24% vs 13%). B) Effects on Interactive Linkage 1. This project made a contribution in making several useful steps in the direction of service integration, namely; i) The health workers have become familiar with procedures on how to work together with each other (especially with a midwife) in carrying out their work in FP/MCH and, ii) The health workers have gotten a feeling of the usefulness of family health records (statistical integration) in identifying targets in their own work and their usefulness in caring for family health. 2. On the other hand, because of a lack of required organizational factors, complete linkage was not obtained as the project intended. i) In regards to the government health worker's activities in terms of home visiting there was not much difference between the study & control areas though the MW did more home visiting than Government health workers. ii) In assessing the service performance of MW & health workers, the midwives balanced their workload between 40% FP, 40% MCH & 20% other activities (mainly immunization). However, $85{\sim}90%$ of the services provided by the health workers were other than FP/MCH, mainly for immunizations such as the encephalitis campaign. In the control area, a similar pattern was observed. Over 75% of their service was other than FP/MCH. Therefore, the pattern shows the health workers are a long way from becoming multipurpose workers even though the government is pushing in this direction. 3. Villagers were much more likely to visit the health sub-center clinic in the study area than in the control area (58% vs.31%) and for more combined care (45% vs.23%). C) Organization factors (admistrative integrative issues) 1. When MW (new workers with higher qualification) were introduced to HSC, it was noted that there were conflicts between the existing HSC workers (Nurse aids with less qualification than MW) and the MW for the beginning period of the project. The cause of the conflict was studied by an anthropologist and it was pointed out that these functional integration problems stemmed from the structural inadequacies of the health subcenter organization as indicated below; i) There is still no general consensus about the objectives and goals of the project between the project staff and the existing health workers. ii) There is no formal linkage between the responsibility of each member's job in the health sub-center. iii) There is still little chance for midwives to play a catalytic role or to establish communicative networks between workers in order to link various knowledge and skills to provide better FP/MCH services in the health sub-center. 2. Based on the above findings the project recommended to the County Chief (who has power to control the administrative staff and the technical staff in his county) the following ; i) In order to solve the conflicts between the individual roles and functions in performing health care activities, there must be goals agreed upon by both. ii) The health sub·center must function as an autonomous organization to undertake the integration health project. In order to do that, it is necessary to support administrative considerations, and to establish a communication system for supervision and to control of the health sub-centers. iii) The administrative organization, tentatively, must be organized to bind the health worker's midwive's and director's jobs by an organic relationship in order to achieve the integrative system under the leadership of health sub-center director. After submitting this observation report, there has been better understanding from frequent meetings & communication between HW/MW in FP/MCH work as the program developed. Lessons learned from the Seosan Project (on issues of FP/MCH integration in Korea); 1) A majority or about 80% of the couples are now practicing FP. As indicated by the study, there is a growing demand from clients for the health system to provide more MCH services than FP in order to maintain the achieved small size of family through FP practice. It is fortunate to see that the government is now formulating a MCH policy for the year 2,000 and revising MCH laws and regulations to emphasize more MCH care for achieving a small size family through family planning practice. 2) Goal consensus in FP/MCH shouBd be made among the health workers It administrators, especially to emphasize the need of care of 'wanted' child. But there is a long way to go to realize the 'real' integration of FP into MCH in Korea, unless there is a structural integration FP/MCH because a categorical FP is still first priority to reduce the rate of population growth for economic reasons but not yet for health/welfare reasons in practice. 3) There should be more financial allocation: (i) a midwife should be made available to help to promote the MCH program and coordinate services, (in) there should be a health sub·center director who can provide leadership training for managing the integrated program. There is a need for 'organizational support', if the decision of integration is made to obtain benefit from both FP & MCH. In other words, costs should be paid equally to both FP/MCH. The integration slogan itself, without the commitment of paying such costs, is powerless to advocate it. 4) Need of management training for middle level health personnel is more acute as the Government has already constructed 90 MCH centers attached to the County Health Center but without adequate manpower, facilities, and guidelines for integrating the work of both FP and MCH. 5) The local government still considers these MCH centers only as delivery centers to take care only of those visiting maternity cases. The MCH center should be a center for the managment of all pregnancies occurring in the community and the promotion of FP with a systematic and effective linkage of resources available in the county such as i.e. Village Health Worker, Community Health Practitioner, Health Sub-center Physicians & Health workers, Doctors and Midwives in MCH center, OBGY Specialists in clinics & hospitals as practiced by the Seosan project at primary health care level.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.37-48
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• 2009

The standardization of marketing has been one of the most focused research topics in international marketing. The term "global marketing" was often used to mean an internationally standardized marketing strategy based on similarities between foreign markets. Marketing standardization was discussed only within the context of traditional physical marketplaces. Since then, the digital "marketspace" of the Internet had emerged in the 90's, and it became one of the most important drivers of the globalization process opening new opportunities for the standardization of global marketing activities. On the other hand, the opinion that a greater adoption of the Internet by customers may lead to a higher degree of customization and differentiation of products rather than standardization is also quite popular. Considering this disagreement, it is notable that comprehensive studies which focus upon the marketing standardization especially in the context of global e-commerce are missing to a high degree. On this background, the two basic research questions being addressed in this study are: (1) To what extent do companies standardize their marketing in international e-commerce? (2) Is there an impact of marketing standardization on the performance (or success) of these companies? Following research hypotheses were generated based upon literature review: H 1: Internationally engaged e-commerce firms show a growing readiness for marketing standardization. H 2: Marketing standardization exerts positive effects on the success of companies in international e-commerce. H 3: In international e-commerce, marketing mix standardization exerts a stronger positive effect on the economic as well as the non-economic success of companies than marketing process standardization. H 4: The higher the non-economic success in international e-commerce firms, the higher the economic success. The data for this research were obtained from a questionnaire survey conducted from February to April 2005. The international e-commerce companies of various industries in Germany and all subsidiaries or headquarters of foreign e-commerce companies based in Germany were included in the survey. 118 out of 801 companies responded to the questionnaire. For structural equation modelling (SEM), the Partial-Least. Squares (PLS) approach in the version PLS-Graph 3.0 was applied (Chin 1998a; 2001). All of four research hypotheses were supported by result of data analysis. The results show that companies engaged in international e-commerce standardize in particular brand name, web page design, product positioning, and the product program to a high degree. The companies intend to intensify their efforts for marketing mix standardization in the future. In addition they want to standardize their marketing processes also to a higher degree, especially within the range of information systems, corporate language and online marketing control procedures. In this study, marketing standardization exerts a positive overall impact on company performance in international e-commerce. Standardization of marketing mix exerts a stronger positive impact on the non-economic success than standardization of marketing processes, which in turn contributes slightly stronger to the economic success. Furthermore, our findings give clear support to the assumption that the non-economic success is highly relevant to the economic success of the firm in international e-commerce. The empirical findings indicate that marketing standardization is relevant to the companies' success in international e-commerce. But marketing mix and marketing process standardization contribute to the firms' economic and non-economic success in different ways. The findings indicate that companies do standardize numerous elements of their marketing mix on the Internet. This practice is in part contrary to the popular concept of a "differentiated standardization" which argues that some elements of the marketing mix should be adapted locally and others should be standardized internationally. Furthermore, the findings suggest that the overall standardization of marketing -rather than the standardization of one particular marketing mix element - is what brings about a positive overall impact on success.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.99-107
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• 2011

This study is aiming to acquire data for enhancing genuineness of restoration through reviewing external and internal scenery of Baegun-dong Wonlim such as Baegun-dong 8 Objects of Scenery(pines, bamboos, chrysanthemum, orchid, maehwa blossom, magnolia, fiddle and crane) and 12 Scenic Spots and reviewing internal and external scenery of Baegun-dong Wonlim such as views and scenery for plantation. For Baegun-dong 8 Young which sang songs about scenic spots of Baegun-dong Wonlim it seemed that its head words were formed through borrowing rhyming words from caption of Baegun-dong Yuseogi(白雲洞幽棲記). Accordingly it seemed these scenery secured its status of Wonlim from the beginning. Particularly the words of fiddle and crane in 琴棋書畵(Geumgisuhha) implied that playing Komungo and brushwriting were firmly rooted as romantic pursuits of classical scholars of that time. In consideration of distance upto Okpanbong which is one of 12 scenic spots of Baegun-dong radius of outer circumference is estimated to be around 1.6km. From Okgpanbong, the epicenter, Sandagyeong, Baegokmae, Hongokpok and Pungdan etc. correspond to transitional space. And inner scenery was formed with hub of thatched cottages and bowers surrounded with chrysanthemums, poenies, rhododendron, Phyllostachys bambusoides, pines and upper and lower water paths. Thus it seemed there was scenic structure of centrifugal nature as well as of multiplicity. Forms of majority of water paths with residual structure found in the country have streamlined forms on the other hand Baegun-dong water paths have straight line which almost dominate inner gardens in terms of scale and forms thus revealing its extraordinary idea and design. In order to promote genuine restoration of Baegun-dong Wonlim it will be necessary to have consideration from standpoint of managing perspective to assure presentation of gradual scenery with elements of scenic objects for outer view among 12 Scenic Spots.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.67-90
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• 2008

Prior to making choices among online products and services, consumers often search online product reviews written by other consumers. Online product reviews have great influences on consumer behavior because they are believed to be more reliable than information provided by sellers. However, ever-increasing lists of product reviews make it difficult for consumers to find the right information efficiently. A customized search mechanism is a method to provide personalized information which fits the user's requirements. This study examines effects of a customized search mechanism and perceived similarity between consumers and product reviewers on consumer behaviors. More specifically, we address the following research questions: (1) Can a customized search mechanism increase perceived similarity between product review authors and readers? (2) Are product reviews perceived as more credible when product reviews were written by the authors perceived similar to them? (3) Does credibility of product reviews have a positive impact on acceptance of product reviews? (4) Does acceptance of product reviews have an influence on purchase intention of the readers? To examine these research questions, a lab experiment with a between-subject factor (whether a customized search mechanism is provided or not) design was employed. In order to enhance mundane realism and increase generalizability of the findings, the experiment sites were built based on a real online store, cherrya.com (http://www.cherrya.com/). Sixty participants were drawn from a pool that consisted of undergraduate and graduate students in a large university. Participation was voluntary; all the participants received 5,000 won to encourage their motivation and involvement in the experiment tasks. In addition, 15 participants, who selected by a random draw, received 30,000 won to actually purchase the product that he or she decided to buy during the experiment. Of the 60 participants, 25 were male and 35 were female. In examining the homogeneity between the two groups, the results of t-tests revealed no significant difference in gender, age, academic years, online shopping experience, and Internet usage. To test our research model, we completed tests of the measurement models and the structural models using PLS Graph version 3.00. The analysis confirmed individual item reliability, internal consistency, and discriminant validity of measurements. The results show that participants feel more credible when product reviews were written by the authors perceived similar to them, credibility of product reviews have a positive impact on acceptance of product reviews, and acceptance of product reviews have an influence on purchase intention of the readers. However, a customized search mechanism did not increase perceived similarity between product review authors and readers. The results imply that there is an urgent need to develop a better customized search tool in order to increase perceived similarity between product review authors and readers.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.16 no.1 s.79
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• pp.43-53
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• 2004

The current Korean Concrete Design Code(KCI Code) requires the minimum and maximum content of shear s in order to prevent brittle and noneconomic design. However, the required content of the steel reinforcement In KCI Code is quite different to those of the other design codes such as fib-code, Canadian Code, and Japanese Code. Furthermore, since the evaluation equations of the minimum and maximum shear reinforcement for the current KCI Code were based on the experimental results, the equations can not be used for the RC members beyond the experimental application limits. The concrete tensile strength, shear stress, crack inclination, strain perpendicular to the crack, and shear span ratio are strongly related to the lower and upper limits of shear reinforcement. In this research, an evaluation equation for the minimum content of shear reinforcement is theoretical proposed from the Wavier's three principals of the mechanics of materials.

• Journal of East-West Nursing Research
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.90-101
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• 2000

The study attempts to examine the degree of cognition and demand on health promotion center of oriental nursing. It puts unique nursing intervention using traditional health promotion connected with oriental medicine to practical use for residents' health promotion and prevention of disease. With the study design of cross-sectional descriptive study, 516 residents who live in 26 Dongs, Dongdaemoon-gu were selected. The tool of study consists of 30 questions which the study team made for the degree of cognition and demand on health promotion center of oriental nursing. Cronbach's $\alpha$ in the degree of cognition was .8028. Collection of research data had been done from October 1 to October 30, 1999 with help of Dongdaemoon-gu office after pretest from 20 residents. Collected data were analyzed into the number and percentage in the characteristic of a subject and connected with demand on the establishment of center, the mean and the standard deviation in the degree of cognition and F-tests in the difference of the degree of cognition by characteristics. The results were as follow; 1) The characteristic of subject of this study was male 50.6%, and average age was 38.5 years old and 30-39 years old occupied the highest percentage with 31.6%. The married were 71.8%, over high school graduates was 85.6%, monthly income from 500 thousand won to 2 million won was 86.1%. 50.8% was the type living with parents, children and sibling. 2) When they were sick, the institution which residents used at first was a pharmacy(69.2%) and hospital(27.5%), but oriental medicine hospital was just 1.4%. As for subjective health condition, 82.5% answered over average, and 28.7% answered that they had chronic illness such as arthritis, chronic digestion problem, hypertension and so on. As for information collection on health, mass communication(34.9%) and medically concerned people(28.1%) occupied relatively high rate. Free health diagnosis system(36.8%) and establishment of health promotion center(31.5%) among welfare programs that residents want to enjoy were high ranked. The rate using a special institution for health was 17.8%, and among these institutions, the rate using aerobic exercises, health center(7.0%) and steamed room(5.4%) was high. Besides, other institutions such as breathing at the abdomen, finger-pressure therapy, meridian massage, foot massage, and so on were being used. 3) As the average of the degree of cognition on health promotion center of oriental medicine was 2.92, the degree of cognition was medium. The description, "health promotion center of oriental medicine is necessary for health keeping of healthy people, including people who have a problem in health" showed the highest degree of cognition(3.04, ${\pm}0.64$). 4) As for the intention on using health promotion center of oriental nursing, 61.4% said "yes", "no" was just 1.4%. The services that people relatively high wanted to be served from the center were measures reducing stress(68.0%) (relaxation therapy, meditation, breathing at the abdomen and so on), acupuncture(66.5%), finger-pressure(61.6%), moxibustion(57.6%), meridian massage(44.2%), postpartum care(40.3%) and so on. 5) As for the degree of cognition on the establishment of health promotion center of oriental nursing by characteristics of subject, there was significant difference(F=4.03, p=.046) between male(3.01) and female(2.91). But there was no significant difference by age, marital status, level of educational achievement and monthly income. As the above result, cognition on the establishment of health promotion center of oriental nursing was relatively low because people were not familiar with about the health promotion center of oriental nursing yet. However once the center will be established, the degree of demand on the center will be relatively high. So positive advertisement will be necessary, and the management of useful programs will be also required in order to make people recognize the advantage when they actually will use the center. On the other hand, as the subject of the study consists of many young people of below 30, the health problem came to be low. And in the case of sampling, the study using random sampling that can represent population will be required.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.397-405
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• 2001

The vision disturbances of school- age children has been recognized as and important school health problem. As the visual disturbances of the school-age children is recognized as the nation's health problem. the importance of the development of educational program for visual health should be emphasized. Recently, eyeball movement and other visual health management method has been introduced for prevention or recovery of decrease in visual acuity. But, the effect of eyeball movement was not confirmed yet. And, the controversy around the treatment effect is continued. The decrease of visual acuity is one of the important school health problem as well as it causes discomfort in daily life of the students. So, it should be considered as an important subject for school health and there is a need to develop an effective intervention program for visual health. The purpose of this study is to develop and evaluate the program with the recognition of the need of the intervention for visual health. The visual health promotion program was developed by the researcher and the program was initiated by the school. Nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design was applied for study which examined the effect of the visual health promotion program. The subjects were 742 children (experimental group: 398; control group: 344). The experiment was composed of health education and eyeball movement. Health education was provided 5 times to the children in the class room. Children of experimental group exercised eyeball movement in the class, watching video for 10 minutes two times a day. The exercise was continued for 10 weeks. The result of the study were as follows. 1) change of visual acuity Before the intervention, mean of the visual acuity was .86 for the experimental group and .91 for control group. After the intervention, mean of visual acuity was .95 for the experimental group and. 90 for the control group. There was no significant difference in the change of visual acuity between experimental and control group. 2) change of refraction. In the experimental group, 327 eyes (41.08%) were normal vision and 469 eyes (58.98%) were eyes of refraction errors, 38.82 % of the total eyes were myopia. There was no significant change in the refraction in the children with myopia after the intervention. 3) Awareness of visual acuity, change of knowledge, behavior. and attitude (1) After the intervention, there was a significant difference in the awareness of visual acuity (experimental group: 70.10%. control group: 50.97%, p<.01). (2) After the intervention, there was a significant knowledge increase in the experimental group (pp<.01). (3) There was no significant difference in the visual health behavior after the intervention. (4) There was a significant positive change in the attitude related to visual health in the experimental group ( pp<.05). 4) There was a significant positive change in the subjective discomfort of the students. But, there was no significant change in the objective eye symptom after the intervention. Even though there was no effect in the visual acuity and the change of the refraction. subjective visual health as well as the attitude and knowledge' of the children and parents toward visual health was improved significantly. Also, there was an increase in the intention of change and the awareness for the visual health management. It is suggested that various educational strategies for visual health promotion should be developed and examined for the visual health promotion of the students.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.1-11
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• 2011

The research was aimed to verify the feasibility of the model of Park-Based Mixed-Use Districts(PBMUD) around urban large park to secure private-based urban parks through the revision of the urban zoning system. The PBMUD is a type of urban zoning district in which park-oriented land use is mixed with the urban land uses of residents, advertising, business, culture, education and research. The PBMUD, delineated from and based on a new paradigm of landscape urbanism, is a new urban strategy to secure urban parks and to cultivate urban regeneration around parks and green spaces to enhance the quality of the urban landscape and to ameliorate urban environmental disasters like climate change. This study performed a questionnaire survey and analysis after a review of literature related to PBMUD. The study looked for specialists in the fields of urban planning and landscape architecture such as officials, researchers and engineers to respond to the questionnaire, which asked about degree of preference. The conclusions of this study were as follows. Firstly, specialists prefer the PBMUD at 79.3% for to 20.7% against ratio, indicating the feasibility of the model of PBMUD. The second, the most preferable reasons for the model, were the possibility of securing park space around urban parks and green spaces that assures access to park and communication with each area. The third, the main reason for non-preference for the model, was a lack of understanding of PBMUD added to the problems of unprofitable laws and regulations related to urban planning and development. These proposed a revision of the related laws and regulations such as the laws for planning and use of national land, laws for architecture etc. The fourth, the most preferred type of PBMUD, was cultural use mixed with park use in every kind of mix of land use. The degree of preference was lower in the order of use of commercial, residential, business, and education(research) when mixed with park use. The number of mixed-use amenities with in the park was found to be an indicator determining preference. The greater the number, the lower was preference frequencies, especially when related to research and business use. The fifth, the preference frequencies of the more than 70% among the respondents to the mixed-use ratio between park use and the others, was in a ratio of 60% park use and 40% other urban use. These research results will help to launch new future research subjects on the revision of zoning regulations in the laws for the planning and uses of national land and architectural law as well as criteria and indicators of subdivision planning as related to a PBMUD model.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.98-133
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• 1987

The mechanical and rheological properties of agricultural materials are important for engineering design and analysis of their mechanical harvesting, handling, transporting and processing systems. Agricultural materials, which composed of structural members and fluids do not react in a purely elastic manner, and their response when subjected to stress and strain is a combination of elastic and viscous behavior so called viscoelastic behavior. Many researchers have conducted studies on the mechanical and rheological properties of the various agricultural products, but a few researcher has studied those properties of rice plant, and also those data are available only for foreign varieties of rice plant. This study are conducted to experimentally determine the mechanical and the rheological properties such as axial compressive strength, tensile strength, bending and shear strength, stress relaxation and creep behavior of rice stems, and grain detachment strength. The rheological models for the rice stem were developed from the test data. The shearing characteristics were examined at some different levels of portion, cross-sectional area, moisture content of rice stem and shearing angle. The results obtained from this study were summarized as follows 1. The mechanical properties of the stems of the J aponica types were greater than those of the Indica ${\times}$ Japonica hybrid in compression, tension, bendingand shearing. 2. The mean value of the compressive force was 80.5 N in the Japonica types and 55.5 N in the Indica ${\times}$ Japonica hybrid which was about 70 percent to that of the Japonica types, and then the value increased progressively at the lower portion of the stems generally. 3. The average tensile force was about 226.6 N in the Japonica types and 123.6 N in the Indica ${\times}$ Japonica hybrid which was about 55 percent to that of the Japonica types. 4. The bending moment was $0.19N{\cdot}m$ in the Japonica types and $0.13N{\cdot}m$ in the Indica ${\times}$ Japonica hybrid which was 68 percent to that of the Japonica types and the bending strength was 7.7 MPa in the Japonica types and 6.5 MPa in the Indica ${\times}$ Japonica hybrid respectively. 5. The shearing force was 141.1 N in Jinju, the Japonica type and 101.4 N in Taebaeg, the Indica ${\times}$ Japonica hybrid which was 72 percent to that of Jinju, and the shearing strength of Taebaeg was 63 percent to that of Jinju. 6. The shearing force and the shearing energy along the stem portion in Jinju increased progressively together at the lower portions, meanwhile in Taebaeg the shearing force showed the maximum value at the intermediate portion and the shearing energy was the greatest at the portion of 21 cm from the ground level, and also the shearing strength and the shearing energy per unit cross-sectional area of the stem were the greater values at the intermediate portion than at any other portions. 7. The shearing force and the shearing energy increased with increase of the cross-sectional area of the rice stem and with decrease of the shearing angie from $90^{\circ}$ to $50^{\circ}$. 8. The shearing forces showed the minimum values of 110 N at Jinju and of 60 N at Taebaeg, the shearing energy at the moisture content decreased about 15 percent point from initial moisture content showed value of 50 mJ in Jinju and of 30 mJ in Taebaeg, respectively. 9. The stress relaxation behavior could be described by the generalized Maxwell model and also the compression creep behavior by Burger's model, respectively in the rice stem. 10. With increase of loading rate, the stress relaxation intensity increased, meanwhile the relaxation time and residual stress decreased. 11. In the compression creep test, the logarithmic creep occured at the stress less than 2.0 MPa and the steady-state creep at the stress larger than 2.0 MPa. 12. The stress level had not a significant effect on the relaxation time, while the relaxation intensity and residual stress increased with increase of the stress level. 13. In the compression creep test of the rice stem, the instantaneous elastic modulus of Burger's model showed the range of 60 to 80 MPa and the viscosities of the free dashpot were very large numerical value which was well explained that the rice stem was viscoelastic material. 14. The tensile detachment forces were about 1.7 to 2.3 N in the Japonica types while about 1.0 to 1.3 N in Indica ${\times}$ Japonica hybrid corresponding to 58 percent of Japonica types, and the bending detachment forces were about 0.6 to 1.1 N corresponding to 30 to 50 percent of the tensile detachment forces, and the bending detachment of the Indica ${\times}$ Japonica hybrid was 0.1 to 0.3 N which was 7 to 21 percent of Japonica types. 15. The detachment force of the lower portion was little bigger than that of the upper portion in a penicle and was not significantly affected by the harvesting period from September 28 to October 20. 16. The tensile and bending detachment forces decreased with decrease of the moisture content from 23 to 13 percent (w.b.) by the natural drying, and the decreasing rate of detachment forces along the moisture content was the greater in the bending detachment force than the tensile detachment force.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.77-90
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• 2023

This study aims to investigate the potential of alternative credit assessment through Social Networking Sites (SNS) as a complementary tool to conventional loan review processes. It seeks to discern the impact of SNS usage characteristics and loan product attributes on credit loan repayment. To achieve this objective, we conducted a binomial logistic regression analysis examining the influence of SNS usage patterns, loan characteristics, and personal attributes on credit loan conditions, utilizing data from Company A's credit loan program, which integrates SNS data into its actual loan review processes. Our findings reveal several noteworthy insights. Firstly, with respect to profile photos that reflect users' personalities and individual characteristics, individuals who choose to upload photos directly connected to their personal lives, such as images of themselves, their private circles (e.g., family and friends), and photos depicting social activities like hobbies, which tend to be favored by individuals with extroverted tendencies, as well as character and humor-themed photos, which are typically favored by individuals with conscientious traits, demonstrate a higher propensity for diligently repaying credit loans. Conversely, the utilization of photos like landscapes or images concealing one's identity did not exhibit a statistically significant causal relationship with loan repayment. Furthermore, a positive correlation was observed between the extent of SNS usage and the likelihood of loan repayment. However, the level of SNS interaction did not exert a significant effect on the probability of loan repayment. This observation may be attributed to the passive nature of the interaction variable, which primarily involves expressing sympathy for other users' comments rather than generating original content. The study also unveiled the statistical significance of loan duration and the number of loans, representing key characteristics of loan portfolios, in influencing credit loan repayment. This underscores the importance of considering loan duration and the quantity of loans as crucial determinants in the design of microcredit products. Among the personal characteristic variables examined, only gender emerged as a significant factor. This implies that the loan program scrutinized in this analysis does not exhibit substantial discrimination based on age and credit scores, as its customer base predominantly consists of individuals in their twenties and thirties with low credit scores, who encounter challenges in securing loans from traditional financial institutions. This research stands out from prior studies by empirically exploring the relationship between SNS usage and credit loan repayment while incorporating variables not typically addressed in existing credit rating research, such as profile pictures. It underscores the significance of harnessing subjective, unstructured information from SNS for loan screening, offering the potential to mitigate the financial disadvantages faced by borrowers with low credit scores or those ensnared in short-term liquidity constraints due to limited credit history a group often referred to as "thin filers." By utilizing such information, these individuals can potentially reduce their credit costs, whereas they are supposed to accrue a more substantial financial history through credit transactions under conventional credit assessment system.